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Maharaja shantanu
MAHARAJA SHANTANU ABOUT: King shantanu was a very able and a just ruler.He ruled the great kingdom of hastinapur. GANGA IN HIS LIFE : Once when he had gone hunting he came to the banks of the mighty river ganga, where he saw a beautiful young woman . He was enchanted by her looks and anted to marry her , he proposed to her , ganga was ready to marry him but only if he never questioned her on anything .Maharaja shantanu readily agreed and they were married. Ganga bore him many strong sons but she did not let them live for long , she would take the new born child and would throw him in the river. As Shantanu had promised her that he would never question her he was unable to do anything. many years went by and ganga had disposed of 7 of her sons, when she gave birth to her 8th son and was about to dispose of him when shantanu could bear it no longer and stoped ganga. He ASKED ,"how can you kill your sons so ruthlessly ?" ganga ( see ganga's page) revealed her true form and replied," i am goddess ganga , the 7 sons i killed were cursed devtas , whom i freed from their curse , as you have stopped me i shall not kill the 8th son of mine , but as you questioned me i will not live with you longer , i am taking my son with me , and he shall come back to you 16 years later after ecieving his training . " saying so ganga vanished. DEVVRATA AND SATYAVATI Shantanu felt very lonely without ganga.one day when he had gone hunting he saw a young , good looking boy near the river , out of the river suddenly ganga appeared, she said ," shanatanu , this is our son devvrata , he has recieved his training from maharishi vashishth .In the battlefield only bhagwan Parshuram can match him and in weapon knowledge only maharishi shukracharya can compete with him ." saying this she dissapeared. Shantanu was very happy , he took devvrata to hastinapur and declared him his heir. one day while hunting , he saw a beautiful woman , he wanted to marry her and asked her jer name she said ," my name is satyavati , O great king i an a fisher woman , for my hand you must ask my father , the chief fisherman." Shantanu asked kevtraj, satyavati's father for her hand , he agreed but on one condition , that satyavati's sons should be made king , Shantanu disagreed and left heavy hearted . Shantanu was filled with grief , when devvrata came to know why , he went to kevatraj and asked for his daughters hand for his father he swore thar he would not rule and would remain a bramhachrai for all his life.Ganga was very pleased by this and granted her son ichamrityu. Shantanu married satyavati and she bore him 2 sons , chitrangad and vichitravirya.